All posts tagged: diet

10 Days, 10 Ways to Lower Carbs, Day 8

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Condiment Caution! It may seem negligible, but ketchup can sabotage you!  Hiding behind it’s pretty red “I’m a vegetable” mask is actually a food that has a fair number of carbs.  Let’s look at condiments, some of the common ones.  Everybody knows jam and jelly have sugar, so I won’t address those.  Just the usual common condiments we eat every day with food. I did NOT use the same measurement for each one, for obvious reasons.  You would probably not eat 3 TBS. of mustard, but you could easily have that much mayo with tuna salad, or dipping french fries in either ketchup or mayo (yes, some people prefer mayo to ketchup on fries!). So, here they are.  Now, the calories are important, but not NEARLY as important as what happens to your blood sugar and insulin levels after you eat anything.  Yes, calories matter, but carbs are the driver behind the steering wheel of your insulin response.  More carbs, more insulin.  More insulin, more fat storage, more hunger.  In order to break the cycle, …

Yes Virginia, it’s the sugar….

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There’s a new movie out by a team of people trying to educate people about the way we eat.  YOU MUST SEE IT.  It is called FED UP, and it’s the movie the food industry doesn’t want us to see.  EVERYTHING we’ve been told about food and exercise for the last 30 years is wrong.  This move is from Katie Couric, Laurie David (Oscar winning producer of An Inconvenient Truth) and Director Stephanie Soechtig.  FED UP will change the way you eat forever, if this blog hasn’t yet! Do you know what to look for when you read a label in the grocery store?  Do you realize that the food industry is trying to lull us into thinking certain foods are diet foods when they contain 40+ grams of carbs (which turns into sugar in your body once you digest it!) Do you know that sugar goes by over 200 names on food labels? Do you know that school children injest more sugar than adults? Empower yourself.  Get this movie, call your local theatre and …

No Pop. No Soda. Ever.

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So, I went to the dentist this week, and there was a great display on their waiting room coffee table!  It showed various common sodas and in front of it in a beaker was the actual amount of sugar in the drink.  They had soda, vitamin water, gatorade, etc.  Great visual.  And so I’m taking that a step further and explaining why YOU SHOULDN’T DRINK DIET SODA EITHER. The WI Dental Association has a pamphlet, and here are some interesting facts: a bottle of soda pop in the 50’s was 6.5 oz.  Today 12 oz and 20 oz are common. a 64 oz. “Big Cup” has more than FIVE CANS of soda in it. there are NO nutritional value in soft drinks soda = cavities 20% of all 1 and 2 year old children drink soda! (yikes) teens drink 300% more soda than they did 20 years ago soft drink companies PAY high schools big bucks to offer their products sealants only protect tooth chewing surfaces, pop decay tends to occur where sealants can’t reach …

How to talk to your daughter about her body

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This was originally a blog post, and then ran in Huffington as an op ed. This is so important, I’m re-posting it. If you have ANY girls in your life, READ THIS AND REMEMBER ALL of it! Actually, this goes for boys too! How to talk to your daughter about her body, step one: Don’t talk to your daughter about her body, except to teach her how it works. Don’t say anything if she’s lost weight. Don’t say anything if she’s gained weight. If you think your daughter’s body looks amazing, don’t say that. Here are some things you can say instead: “You look so healthy!” is a great one. Or how about, “You’re looking so strong.” “I can see how happy you are — you’re glowing.” Better yet, compliment her on something that has nothing to do with her body. Don’t comment on other women’s bodies either. Nope. Not a single comment, not a nice one or a mean one. Teach her about kindness towards others, but also kindness towards yourself. Don’t you dare …

Do you judge yourself or others who are overweight?

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Don’t…  you may have it ALL WRONG. I have long been a fan of the TED talks.  Often enlightening, and usually entertaining, these videos should be standard in many college level programs.  It’s a way to educate yourself, entertain yourself and empower yourself.  There is one that is SO important, I’m embedding it here.  It is 15 minutes long. Peter Attia, M.D., trained as a surgeon.  He realized he judged his overweight patients, but had an epiphany when he himself gained weight and developed metabolic syndrome. What he has to say is so important, everyone needs to hear it.   Anyone who has been overweight knows only too well the psychic pain, the emotional pain of being judged.  My entire hypothesis and the reason I do this blog is that I believe IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT.  Peter Attia, you are my hero today because of your courage to question the status quo, and your commitment to address this issue by finding an answer to your questions.   For more on Dr. Attia’s work, see:  eatingacademy.com

A calorie is not just a calorie…

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Scientific research concludes there are real health benefits to low Glycemic Index/Load (GI/GL) diets.  After reviewing all the latest research on glycemic index, glycemic load and glycemic response, an international committee of leading nutrition scientists have released a Scientific Consensus Statement that concludes that carbohydrate quality (Glycemic Index = GI) matters and that the carbohydrates present in different foods affect post-meal blood glucose (sugar) differently, with important health implications.  A calorie isn’t just a calorie.  They also confirmed that there is convincing evidence from a large body of research that low GI/GL diets reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease, help control blood glucose in people with diabetes, and may also help with weight management. They recommend including GI and GL in national dietary guidelines and food composition tables, and that packaging labels and symbols on low-GI foods should be considered. They also confirmed low GI measurements complement other ways of characterising carbohydrate foods (such as fiber and whole grain content), and should be considered in the context of an overall …